Join Us for an Introductory Session: Developing Across Borders Performs! Led by Barbara Silverman and Melissa Meyer Saturday January 30 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Eastern US (UTC-5)

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Step onto a world stage and grow!  At a time of extraordinary uncertainty, Developing Across Borders welcomes participants from across the world into a weekly, virtual, group-building activity. Some participants come at key transition moments in their lives. Others want to make their lives bigger — more responsive and responsible to a rapidly changing world. Many come to find their way out of emotional pain. With the support of a skilled social therapeutic coach, they build a space — a development zone — to perform as world citizens, to play with language, invent new ways of being and seeing — and in so doing, produce new possibilities for themselves and their communities. Join us for a free 90 minute session where you will be introduced to the methodology and history of Developing Across Borders and participate in a demonstration of a group.  Following this session participants can join a 3-week trial Developing Across Borders Group (fee for group set on a sliding scale).  Dates for the 3 week trial group following the introductory event are Saturdays: October 17, 24, 31 from 12-1:30pm Eastern US (UTC-4).

Barbara Silverman, L.C.S.W. is a master designer and organizer of location-specific social therapeutic group environments—having brought an explicitly developmental approach into public schools, mental health centers and other community-based agencies. A social therapist and educator, she helps groups self-organize to create spaces where all can grow. In 2010, Barbara founded the East Side Institute’s Developing Across Borders, a global, cross-cultural development zone now with dozens of participants from every part of the world. More locally, she leads a social therapy practice in New York City. Barbara received her M.S.W. from the Adelphi School of Social Work.

Melissa Meyer is a social therapeutic coach and the Associate Director at the East Side Institute.  She is sales director for Performing the World, a bi-annual gathering that takes place in New York City and explores performance as a method to help communities grow and create positive social change. Melissa co-teaches “Creating Communities of Hope: Introducing a Performatory Approach to Human Development and Its Community Stages" a 5-week introductory seminar on social therapeutics. She leads and co-leads three Developing Across Borders groups weekly.